"I've had horses for more than 40 years," she said. "It is a passion of mine."

The owner of five show horses was horrified to find out about a northwest Missouri man's plan to open a horse slaughter plant in Gallatin. She says it's inhumane to treat a horse like livestock.

"They're very smart and they're very caring," Kline said. "They will give you their all if you ask. They're very personable, very friendly. They love me and I love them."

Kline has done a lot of research on horse slaughter plants.

"Horse theft goes up exponentially, always has in the past, around horse slaughter plants."

There's conflicting opinions on how safe horse meat would be.

"It's our opinion that there's been some fibbing going on," Kline said. "There is a serious problem with the drugs we give U.S. horses."

Kline's fight has drawn attention nationally, with a Facebook page devoted to stopping the horse slaughter plant in Gallatin from opening.

One person in Kline's corner is the former mayor of a Texas community that housed a horse slaughter plant for more than 25 years before closing in 2007.

"You can call it passion, or you can just call it people who are very well grounded in the facts," said Paula Bacon, mayor of Kaufman, Texas from 2003-2007.

Dallas Crown, a horse slaughter plant located in Kaufman, closed in 2007 when the federal government defunded USDA inspections of horse plants.

"When people are grounded in the facts and they see it is not happening the way they think it should, they feel like justice needs to be done," Bacon said.

Kline says it's a balance of passion and motivation.

"A lot of times people on the pro-horse slaughter side will say you're just emotional," Kline said. "We are emotional about our horses so we've come up with the facts through the research that supports our point of view.and we've got the science behind us."

Rains Natural Meats owner David Rains says he's cleared all of the federal hurdles to opening up his Gallatin plant but is still waiting for approval from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources for a permit for waste water produced at the plant.

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